weird thing in fish belly???

[Mad Mikey]

Fished the Clack today with a buddy, we went 2 for 4.
The fish I kept was a nice chrome Summer, about 8lbs.
I cleaned it at the takeout and cut it open to see what it had been eating. It had two shrimptails in its' gullet and when I cut the stomach apart I was suprised to see it had ingested a funny looking piece of plastic.
The item in question was a black plastic tube, about 3/4" long, 1/2" diameter, very hard and seemed to have some sort of compressed shrimpbait of some kind in the middle of it.
What I'm wondering is if there is some kind of bait rig the guys on the big water are using that incorporate a plastic tube with bait inside it and I caught a fish that snookered someone out of it?
Gotta say this is the weirdest thing I have seen in a fishes belly. Anyone got some possible answers to this?

[ 04-01-2003, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: Mad Mikey ]

[Dipnet]

And I thought I was the only one to check fishes stomach's to see what they have been eating!!! :shocked: I don't know about what you found, but I've found some really strange things in trout bellies. We fish Tenmile Lake, and I have found many plastic worms(bass bait) in the trout. Also, a big splinter of wood in one :whazzup: , and a small garter snake that was on the road to decomposition. Boy was that odiferous!! :shocked:

Dipnet :grin:

[RvW]

People use a tube with a bead at each end. A leader is threaded through a bead, then the tube, and another bead and placed above a spinglo. the tube is packed with scent and the beads keep it inside longer. I would guess this is the case...someone broke off at the hook or leader, and your victim came along and ate the baited tube. Never heard of a black one, or a "hard" tube either, but black works on spinners so who knows.

Just a guess.

Someone posted a pic of this sort of rig ( a generous IFisher) If I find it I'll add the link

[Mad Mikey]

I've seen the rig you are describing, this tube was pretty wide, almost big enough to fit a pinky through.

[Walleyed]

I hooked a large small mouth and found a smaller bass inside of him. Just for kicks I opened up the little guy and found a large full sized crawdad in him. Guess he must of took the big guys dinner !!!

[greenbuttskunk]

I once opened up the belly of a sturgeon and found
Jimmy Hoffa. I guess the mistery is solved!

Actually, I've found things like a spoon, light sticks, ect. If it falls overboard, I figure it's going to be lunch for something if the timings right.

[Mad Mikey]

I was hoping it was some new mysterious fishing secret I hadn't picked up on yet but it probably just looked good to the fish at the time. Just for kicks I'll attach it to a drift rig tomorrow for a little bit and see what happens. Really.

[FINZ]

I caught a sturgeon with DB Coopers Money in it.

[tipndwater]

I caught a salmon and found a pine cone in its belly???
tip

[ICHTHYDEMON]

I've caught trout with rubber worms,cigarette butts,rocks,sticks and one had a big 2/0 or 3/0 salmon hook inside.